The Canadian Football League’s Battle of Alberta has a decidedly Montana influence to it this season.

A new key piece was added to the provincial rivalry when the Edmonton Eskimos hired Brock Sunderland as their general manager over the off-season.

A 37-year-old native of Great Falls, Mont., Sunderland shares not only a hometown with Calgary Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson, but the two are also alumni of the same high school and graduated to play for the University of Montana Grizzlies in Missoula.

This week, they’ve found themselves on opposite sides of the 2017 Labour Day series, which resumes Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium (7 p.m., TSN, ESPN3, 630 CHED), following a 39-18 Stampeders win on Monday.

“Kind of a cool thing is our high school football coach that we both had is coming up for the game, so that’s pretty cool for both of us,” Dickenson said ahead of the Labour Day Classic, recalling his time with the Charles M. Russell high school Rustlers, where he won two state championships. “His name is Jack Johnson, he’s a legend in our neck of the woods, he really is. He’s in the high school hall of fame for the whole U.S. and I don’t think there’s another Montana coach in that.

“I haven’t seen him in a while, it’s been a while since I’ve played for him.”

Dickenson, of course, went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career as a quarterback for the Stampeders and B.C. Lions in a 12-year run that included two seasons in the National Football League, three Grey Cups and a CFL most outstanding player award. He began his coaching career as an assistant in Calgary in 2009, adding a fourth Grey Cup to his resume before being named the 2016 CFL coach of the year as a rookie head coach.

Back in his home state, he was called things like Super Dave and the Legend of the Falls.

“Listen, I had a good run down there, I enjoyed myself,” Dickenson said. “I think the one thing that Brock and I will both agree on is that Montana, there’s just not a lot going on down there and we’re just very proud of being able to accomplish things and I think whether you live there or not, you’re always going to tell people you’re from Montana.

“I take pride in that. Still love my university and my hometown and my parents are there, so we consider them good people but I also think that Alberta and Montana have a lot in common.”

While Sunderland’s playing career as a receiver and kick returner ended in university, he had already begun following in the footsteps of his father, Marv, a long-time NFL scout who would bring his son along to games as a child.

Prior to spending the past four years as the Ottawa RedBlacks assistant GM, Sunderland spent six seasons with the NFL’s New York Jets scouting college players in the Western U.S. and serving as an advance pro scout. He got his start as an amateur scout with the Montreal Alouettes in 2004.

“Growing up in Great Falls, Montana, during the era I kind of grew up, Dave was who every kid wanted to be. If you’re on the playgrounds, you were like, ‘I’m Dave Dickenson at quarterback,’ ” said Sunderland, who was recruited to the Grizzlies by Dickenson’s brother, Craig, now the Saskatchewan Roughriders special-teams co-ordinator. “I was a ball boy for C.M.R. when Dave and Craig were playing there so we go back a long, long time.

“Dave’s a legend, if he ran for the governor of Montana, it’d be a landslide. Honestly, he’s a living legend and he’s earned every bit of that. From C.M.R., he went undefeated back-to-back seasons, had the little old Great Falls, Montana, was ranked in the nation, I believe. He went to the University of Montana and won the Walter Payton Award and won the national championship.”

So as the Battle of Alberta wages on, there is a smaller, personal battle of Montana taking place on the sidelines.

“A little bit, yeah,” Sunderland said. “Whenever I have a lot of respect for someone, I want to beat him that much more just because of all the things going to him, we’re competitive and I have all the respect in the world for Dave, not only as a coach and someone in football, but as a person.”

ROSTER REPS

The big-wigs in football ops aren’t the only Montana representatives involved in the north-of-the-border rivalry.

“Oh, yeah, everyone just wanted to travel about six or seven hours north,” joked Singleton, who was named a CFL player of the week for his 13 tackles and a sack in Monday’s win over the Edmonton Eskimos, while teammate Shaquille Richardson was also awarded for two third-quarter interceptions. “It wasn’t cold enough in Montana so we wanted it to be colder and came up here.

“There’s a lot of us, when (Eskimos running back Travon) Van was healthy, Van went to Montana, so there’s a bunch of guys up here.”

As did linebacker Jeremiah Kose, currently on the Eskimos practice squad.

In and out: DE Odell Willis remained out Thursday, while LB Kenny Ladler left late in the practice. They are the last two starters on defence to play every game this season … DT Almondo Sewell (ribs) returned to limited participation after sitting out Wednesday … LG Danny Groulx hasn’t practised this week.